Disney and Lucasfilms’ Solo: A Star Wars Story is tracking to open to record-breaking numbers over Memorial Day, not adjusted for inflation.
Directed by Ron Howard, the stand-alone film should zoom past $160 million over the four-day holiday weekend, according to those with access to tracking surveys. The current Memorial Day record holder is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($139.8 million). Advance ticket sales for Solo commence early Friday morning ET, timed to “Star Wars Day.”
Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover and Emilia Clarke star in the Han Solo origin film, which is pacing ahead of fellow stand-alone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in terms of key metrics, such as unaided awareness and first choice. In December 2016, Rogue One posted a three-day debut of $155.1 million.
When Rogue One first came on tracking three weeks before its release, projections showed the movie debuting to $130 million-plus domestically.
The tracking services are often conservative in their actual opening estimates; in the case of Solo, industry leader NRG shows the film debuting to $135 million. Analysts deciphering such data as first choice often come up with a higher number, as is the case for Howard’s movie.
Solo chronicles a young Han Solo and his adventures with the Wookiee Chewbacca, as well as his first encounter with Lando Calrissian.
